


Livin' It Up When I'm Goin' Down

by lostonthisisland



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1712183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostonthisisland/pseuds/lostonthisisland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler finds out Josh has a fear of elevators.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Livin' It Up When I'm Goin' Down

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Aerosmith's 'Love in an Elevator'

The door to his hotel room clicks behind him and Tyler holds up his phone for Josh to see, "Sorry, got it."

 

"Anyway," Josh says, turning for the stairwell and continuing his train of thought, "They ended the third one perfectly - if they make a fourth Pixar is gonna get some angry letters..."

 

"Hey, Josh," Tyler points at the elevator doors just a few feet from where they're standing.

 

Josh turns and stares at them for a moment, his hand reaches up to rub at the back of his neck, "Uhh..." He says intelligently.

 

"C'mon, we're like five floors up." Tyler strides across the hallway and presses the button on the wall.

 

Reluctantly, Josh makes his way back to his friend's side and Tyler notices his drummer isn't rambling on about Toy Story anymore.

 

It's quiet in the hallway as they wait for the elevator and Tyler studies his suddenly silent friend, "You okay?"

 

Josh's body twitches and he faces Tyler, "Huh? Yeah. I'm fine... I just don't like elevators that much." He says with a strained smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

 

The elevator doors ding and slide open and Tyler thinks back to the other few times they've rode an elevator instead of taken the stairs. Josh was always uneasy then too, but Tyler always took it for agitation at not being able to race him on the stairwell.

 

 " _Tyler?_ "

 

Josh is standing uneasily in the middle of the boxcar, his arm stretched out to keep the doors from closing him in alone. He's looking at Tyler expectantly.

 

Tyler walks in beside him and hits the button for the lobby. They're meeting Mark and the other guys down  for breakfast before taking off for a show in New York.

 

The doors slide shut and Tyler feels the floor give a little jerk under his feet before they're descending.

 

He's about to open his mouth and say something to Josh, something like ' _hey, c'mon, what could happen in five floors?_ 'when suddenly the entire boxcar shudders and a shrieking noise of grinding metal meets their ears.

 

The lights flicker for a brief moment and Tyler feels his pulse racing as he reaches out to steady himself on the handrail lining the elevator as the whole box thumps and comes to an abrupt stop.

 

" _Jesus_!"

 

He hears another long groan of metal on metal and then everything is quiet and still.

 

_Josh_.

 

Tyler finds Josh on the floor across from him, his eyes squeezed shut and both his hands above him, clutching the handrails with white knuckles.

 

"Josh?"

 

His friend's chest is rising and falling in fast, short breaths.

 

"Josh? Are you okay?"

 

Tyler crouches down in front of him and gently taps his drummer's knee, "Josh?"

 

Josh jerks and his eyes fly open, "Tyler," he says and it's strained like too-tight piano strings.

 

"It's okay, we stopped. It's not moving."

 

"Where are we?" Josh asks and Tyler frowns.

 

"Where-?"

 

"What floor?" he clarifies and Tyler looks around the elevator. None of the buttons are lit, the digital display above them is dark.

 

"I don't know."

 

"Can you call someone?" Josh's voice is high and panicky.

 

"Uh," Tyler pulls out his phone, "I'm not getting any service in here." He tries to send a text to Mark, too, 'help. trapped in elevator' but it fails.

 

Tyler sits and stares at the screen of his phone for a moment, thinking. Josh's breathing is loud.

 

"What's that?" Josh asks and he's pointing to the panel of buttons by the doors, "The bell... is that for help?"

 

Shrugging, Tyler stands up and pushes the button with the icon of a bell next to it. Nothing happens and he pushes it a couple more times, "I don't know."

 

The lights flicker again and Tyler hears the sharp inhale his friend takes.

 

"Hey, hey." he quickly rejoins Josh on the floor and puts a hand on his raised knee, "It's fine, they're gonna notice the elevator isn't working, they're gonna come get us out, it won't be long. Besides, we're probably only on like the second floor or something."

 

Josh shakes his head, faded blue hair falling across his forehead, "I don't think it got that far, I feel like we're still high up, Ty."

 

Tyler watches Josh as he shuts his eyes and tries to control his breathing. At a loss for words to comfort, Tyler instead pulls Josh over, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

 

The position is awkward, Josh's left hand is still above him in an iron grip on the handrail.

 

"I'm here." Is all Tyler can think to say.

 

He feels Josh relax into him just the smallest amount and wonders how long they're going to be stuck like this. For Josh's sake, he hopes not long.

 

It's silent for a beat, just the sound of Josh's breathing. Tyler looks up at the lights and thinks _at least those are still on_. He's about to voice it, too, when suddenly the lights blink out and Tyler curses himself for being a huge jinx.

 

He feels Josh tense next to him, "Why-"

 

The sound of grinding metal cuts Josh off and Tyler feels the floor give a shudder underneath them. Josh curses and Tyler feels a fistful of his shirt grabbed.

 

"It's okay, it's okay," He tries and his hand finds Josh's in the dark while he says meaningless words that he prays will calm his best friend down.

 

Josh is too busy groaning. His throat making a constant, distressed sound that's making Tyler want to shake him. But that would only be a bad idea.

 

So instead Tyler finds Josh's face with both his hands and leans over and kisses him, shutting up the awful dying animal noise he's making.

 

Josh quiets beneath him and Tyler does it again and again until he feels his drummer respond.

 

Josh does respond, but hesitantly, and with it Tyler welcomes the familiar warm shiver that laces its way down his body to pool at his groin. His heart flutters and he grins into the kiss. It still feels new to him, kissing his best friend like this. They'd only just started touching and kissing a couple of months ago and Tyler still feels that surge of excitement when they do it.

 

The kiss is still quite timid though and Tyler breaks off long enough to breathe, "I'm here." and pull his bandmate closer to him.

 

The words seem to work on Josh a second time and he begins to push back into the kiss more confidently, his anxiety leaving. Josh's tongue is warm in his mouth as Tyler opens himself up against it and a different kind of groan rises from his friend's throat.

 

The elevator begins to fade around them as their kiss grows more heated. Soon all Tyler knows is _Josh_ and _yes_ and he has a fleeting wish that nobody finds them and they can just have this moment in the darkness because so rarely do they have time where it's just the two of them.

 

Calloused fingers snake shyly up Tyler's shirt and he feels himself trembling at the touch. His body warms to the sensations Josh is giving him and he lets his own hand explore, finding first cotton before touching the hot skin of Josh's hip.

 

They kiss for what feels like a long time, simply enjoying each other's lips and tongues and warmth. When Tyler feels fingers ghost over his nipple he shudders and a keening noise passes heedlessly between his lips. His shirt is pushed up then and Josh's hands are hot on his skin. Tyler arches his back to get better contact, and moans into the kiss, looking all the part of a flushed whore when the elevator doors screech open and light floods into the boxcart.

 

"Oh-" Says the fireman looking in on them before turning away. The other half a dozen people standing just behind him, don't.

 

Tyler pushes Josh back with one hand and his shirt down with the other, "Uhh..." he says intelligently when he spots Mark peering in at them with shock and amusement.

 

"Of course... this is how I find out." He says and shakes his head. Tyler thinks they're going to get a very awkward lecture about public indecency later.

 

He turns to look at Josh but his drummer is too busy scurrying past the lip of the hallway where the elevator didn't quite land evenly with. Tyler follows him out and he's relieved to see Josh smiling again, standing safely on carpeted hallway.

 

The fireman asks them if they're hurt to which Mark replies, "Far from it," and ushers them towards the stairs. Tyler notes they're on the third floor.

 

"I am never going to look at an elevator the same way again," Mark mumbles and starts down the staircase, "You guys actually had me worried," he yells behind him, "Next time I'll just tell them to wait, jeez."

 

Tyler feels his cheeks warm from blushing. He really wishes there had been a less soft-core porn way to let Mark find out about them.

 

When Mark is safely out of hearing range, Josh nudges Tyler and regards him with soft eyes, "Thanks, by the way." He says and leans in to give the singer a shy kiss, "For being there."

 

Josh reaches out and links their fingers together and all Tyler can do is smile like a dummy. _What the hell_ , he thinks, _Mark will be fine._

 

 

 


End file.
